Monday, May 19, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.
And then there were four.
Jimmy Vasser of Las Vegas and Richie Hearn of Henderson on Sunday qualified for Sunday's Indianapolis 500 and brought the number of drivers with ties to Southern Nevada in the 33-car field to four.
Vasser and Hearn will join former Las Vegas resident Tony Renna and part-time Henderson resident Al Unser Jr. in the 87th running of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Although Vasser had been expected to attempt to qualify Sunday, Hearn's entry in the race came as somewhat of a surprise. Sam Schmidt, also of Henderson, leased a backup car from Penske Racing on Friday and hired Hearn to drive it in the 500.
Schmidt, a one-time Indy Racing League team owner who now fields cars in the developmental Infiniti Pro Series, drove in three Indy 500s before injuries in a practice crash in January 2000 left him paralyzed from the chest down.
"I appreciate the support that Penske Racing and Toyota have provided me in our quest to compete in the 2003 Indianapolis 500," Schmidt said. "Without the dedication of many people, this program would not have come together.
"I look forward to competing in my third Indianapolis 500 as an owner and hope to repeat our success of last season."
Last year, Hearn drove a Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry to a sixth-place finish in the Indy 500.
Hearn will start Sunday's race on the inside of the 10th row after qualifying the No. 99 G-Force/Toyota at a 225.863-mph average over four laps.
"To find a last-minute ride is like winning the lottery," Hearn said. "It's probably going to be the best car I've had -- period -- in any racing situation. To make it with Sam ... he and I had a pretty good run here last year -- not only here, but through the rest of the year. And I know he worked really hard to get a car set up for me at this race, and everything fell through at the last minute."
Hearn has reason to be optimistic: Penske Racing placed cars on the pole with Helio Castroneves and 10th on the starting grid with Gil de Ferran, and Castroneves has won the past two Indy 500s.
Having a car with such a heritage made it easier for Hearn to go out and qualify Sunday after only about 30 laps of practice.
"Really, those guys gave me a car that I knew was going to be fine," Hearn said. "There's no stretch in that car and it makes it easier on your brain when you know you can worry about just getting up to speed and not worrying about finding speed.
"It wasn't difficult as it looked. The car was planted and in practice, the third time by, I was flat out all the way around the track. I'm happy that's the situation I got myself in and it made my job a lot easier."
Vasser also had little trouble putting the No. 19 Argent-sponsored Dallara/ Honda safely into the field for team owners Bobby Rahal and David Letterman. Vasser had to wait until the final day of qualifying because he was in Europe last weekend driving in the CART Champ Car Series for team owner Stefan Johansson.
Vasser will start on the outside of the ninth row after averaging 226.873 mph over his four-lap qualifying run -- the third-fastest speed of the day.
"I know we're starting back a bit but it's 500 miles," Vasser said. "I've been back there before; I've been down a lap in a 500-mile race and ended up winning. Team Rahal has great pit-stop capabilities, winning a lot of pit crew competitions over the years.
"I'm confident that sooner or later on race day -- probably later than sooner -- but sooner or later we're going to end up finding ourselves near or at the front. And if we deserve to stay there, which I think we do, I think we have a good race car (and) we're going to be able to fight for the win."
Vasser holds the distinction of winning the fastest 500-mile race in open-wheel history when he captured The 500 Presented by Toyota, at California Speedway in Fontana in November, with an average green-flag speed of 197.995 mph.
Nine cars qualified on Sunday, filling the 33-car field. Alex Barron was the fastest second-day qualifier at 227.274 mph and Vitor Meira was second-fastest at 227.158.
Billy Boat, Shigeaki Hattori, Robby McGehee, Jimmy Kite and Airton Dare also qualified on Sunday.
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